List of Italian inventions and discoveries

Leonardo wrote aerodynamic studies in a notebook eventually titled ''Codex on the Flight of Birds''[1]
The Barsanti-Matteucci engine, the first proper internal combustion engine.
The voltaic pile presented by Alessandro Volta to Napoleone Bonaparte.
Alessandro Cruto, creator of the first practical long-lasting incandescent light bulb.[2]

Italian inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques invented, innovated or discovered, partially or entirely, by Italians.

Italian people – living in the Italic peninsula or abroad – have been throughout history[3] the source of important inventions and innovations in the fields of writing,[4][5] calendar,[6] mechanical[7] and civil engineering,[8][9][10][11] musical notation,[12] celestial observation,[13] perspective,[14] warfare,[15][16][17][18] long distance communication,[19][20][21] storage[22] and production[23][24] of energy, modern medicine,[25] polymerization[26][27] and information technology.[28][29]

Italians also contributed in theorizing civil law,[30][31] scientific method (particularly in the fields of physics and astronomy),[32] double-entry bookkeeping,[33] mathematical algebra[34] and analysis,[35][36] classical and celestial mechanics.[37][38] Often, things discovered for the first time are also called inventions and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two.

The following is a list of inventions, innovations or discoveries known or generally recognized to be Italian.

  1. ^ Innocenzi, Plinio (27 June 2018). The Innovators Behind Leonardo: The True Story of the Scientific and Technological Renaissance. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-90449-8.
  2. ^ "Alessandro Cruto's incandescent light bulb — Italianmedia". ilglobo.com.au. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Italy | Facts, Geography, & History". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 24 December 2019. Italian history begins with the Etruscans
  4. ^ "Codex". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 October 2019. The codex may have been more a Roman innovation than a Greek or Eastern Mediterranean development
  5. ^ "The World's Most Popular Writing Scripts". WorldAtlas. 23 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  6. ^ "Julian calendar | History & Difference from Gregorian Calendar". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Espacenet - Original document". worldwide.espacenet.com. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  8. ^ McGrath, Matt (4 July 2017). "Scientists solve Roman concrete puzzle". Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  9. ^ "ingegneria nell'Enciclopedia Treccani". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 28 November 2019. Translation from source (not lit.) The oldest Italian document in which the term 'engineer' appears [dates back] [...] in Genoa, 19 April 1195 [...] The first printed engineering book is Italian [...]. [Comparable with] the French Jacques Besson and the Germans Georg Agricola and Zeising, are Agostino Ramelli, Bonaiuto Lorini, Fausto Veranzio, Mariano Zonca, Famiano Strada, Giovanni Branca. The Italian engineer is often called abroad as a consultant ...
  10. ^ "List of 5 Greatest Feats of Roman Engineering - History Lists". historylists.org. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  11. ^ Eschner, Kat. "The Man Who Invented Nitroglycerin Was Horrified By Dynamite". Smithsonian. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  12. ^ "Why do we use Italian words in music notation?". Classic FM. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  13. ^ "GALILEO'S TELESCOPE - Galileo, the Instrument-Maker". brunelleschi.imss.fi.it. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Geometry in Art & Architecture Unit 11". math.dartmouth.edu. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  15. ^ "Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus | Roman statesman and commander". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 October 2019. Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, byname Cunctator, [...] Roman military commander and statesman whose cautious delaying tactics (whence the nickname "Cunctator," meaning "delayer")...
  16. ^ Wilson, Robert L. (10 November 2015). The World of Beretta: An International Legend. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-5107-0930-0. Introductory summary Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta, S.p.A., the oldest industrial firm and the oldest gunmaker in the world. From source Italy's importance in the history of art, government, politics, warfare, and sport is recognized worldwide. [...] the advancement of technology [is] no less significant. No area of the world [played] a greater role in the evolution of firearms than the ancient Italian valley region known as Val Trompia
  17. ^ "Cei-Rigotti". Forgotten Weapons. 24 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2019. Amerigo Cei-Rigotti was a major in the Italian Bersaglieri (light infantry) in 1900, when his innovative self-loading rifle design was first introduced. Unlike many or the very early semiauto rifle designs, the Cei-Rigotti is a light, handy, and pretty compact rifle.
  18. ^ "Lùppis, Giovanni Battista in "Enciclopedia Italiana"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2019. Translation creator of the torpedo; he realized a prototype, which he named salvacoste.
  19. ^ "Press Release - Congressman Vito J. Fossella - New York, 13th Congressional District". 24 January 2005. Archived from the original on 24 January 2005. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  20. ^ Fossella, Vito (11 June 2002). "Text - H.Res.269 - 107th Congress (2001-2002): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to honor the life and achievements of 19th Century Italian-American inventor Antonio Meucci, and his work in the invention of the telephone". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  21. ^ "Marconi, Guglielmo in "Dizionario Biografico"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Battery - Development of batteries". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  23. ^ "Enrico Fermi, architect of the nuclear age, dies - Nov 28, 1954 - HISTORY.com". 17 November 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  24. ^ "Nuclear Power" (PDF).
  25. ^ "Tiberio, l'italiano che scoprì la penicillina prima di Fleming". Focus.it. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  26. ^ "55 anni fa il Nobel a Giulio Natta, papà della plastica - Scienza & Tecnica". ANSA.it (in Italian). 10 December 2018. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  27. ^ Ketley, A. D.; Werber, F. X. (14 August 1964). "Stereospecific Polymerization: A revolution in polymer synthesis has occurred in the last decade". Science. 145 (3633): 667–673. doi:10.1126/science.145.3633.667. PMID 14163799. S2CID 21604946.
  28. ^ "Olivetti Programma 101: at the origins of the Personal Computer". Inexhibit. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  29. ^ "The_MOS_Silicon_Gate_Technology_and_the_First_Microprocessors" (PDF). intel4004.com.
  30. ^ "What is the Difference Between Common Law and Civil Law?". onlinelaw.wustl.edu. 28 January 2014.
  31. ^ G. Hall, Eamonn (25 May 2019). "the-contribution-of-roman-law-to-modern-legal-systems".
  32. ^ "Galileo". Biography. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  33. ^ Pacioli, Luca (1523). Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalità. Paganino de Paganini.
  34. ^ "Tartaglia, Niccolo in "Il Contributo italiano alla storia del Pensiero: Scienze"". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  35. ^ "Bonaventura Cavalieri (1598-1647)". www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  36. ^ Ricci and Levi-Civita's Tensor Analysis Paper. Math Sci Press. 1975.
  37. ^ "Lagrange, Giuseppe Luigi nel Dizionario Biografico Treccani". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  38. ^ "formalismo lagrangiano". www.treccani.it.